Join Color of Change & Continue to Fight for Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman stalked and killed Trayvon Martin in late February of last year. It
took 45 days for Sanford, Florida police to arrest 17-year-old Trayvon
Martin’s admitted killer — and only 16 hours for jurors to acquit him of
second-degree murder and manslaughter last night.1

We are angry. We are sad. And we are in pain.

We send our love and support to Trayvon’s
parents — Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin — and we grieve with them and
the countless other families of Black children who have been killed just
for being Black.2

In this time of national sorrow, let’s
turn our rightful frustration into action and grow a movement to hold
the criminal justice system that fails Black Americans every day3 accountable.

What does it say about our society when a
civilian can shoot and kill a Black child who is just walking home from
the store, and what can it mean when the killer is set free? What does
this say about the value our society places on the lives of young Black
children? It tells us that a Black life has little worth. It tells us
that Black youth are seen as nothing more than violent criminals.4 And it tells us how much more work we must do to achieve a just society.

The police department in Sanford botched the investigation from start to finish.5 But we did not stay silent. Had
it not been for the dedicated activism and work of Trayvon’s family,
ColorOfChange members and countless others, Zimmerman may have never
been arrested — let alone gone to trial. Our collective
commitment to fight for justice for Trayvon was overwhelming. We
responded. We organized. We forced authorities to make an arrest in a
case that easily could have been forgotten, just like so many before.
The US Department of Justice was forced to intervene, and although it
took 45 days, Zimmerman was eventually arrested and charged with murder.6

Thousands of ColorOfChange members spoke out
against Florida’s “Shoot First” law, which initially shielded George
Zimmerman from arrest and prosecution.7 The shadowy lobbying
organization the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — and its
deep-pocketed supporters at the National Rifle Association (NRA) —
proliferated these laws around the country. Since ColorOfChange
began drawing attention to ALEC’s role in crafting these deadly Shoot
First laws, 52 corporations and nonprofits and at least 70 state
legislators have publicly disavowed any relationship with the group.8

–Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Jamar, Aimée and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team July 14th, 2013

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